This invention relates to an insect feeding station for administering a substance in fluent form (such as liquid, powder or granules) to insects, particularly crawling insects such as ants.
The invention is particularly suitable for administering a toxic substance to such insects for the purposes of eradicating them.
A common way of eradicating ants is to feed them with a bait comprising a toxic substance such as a liquid mixture of a slow-acting poison and matter attractive to the ants. Ants take portions of the toxic bait and return to their nest where the toxic bait is transferred to other ants, as is common practice in the feeding regime of ants. Ants which feed on the poison eventually die. Other ants devour the dead ants, so further transmitting the poison from ant to ant.
While feeding ants with a toxic bait is an effective way of eradicating them, there can be problems associated with presentation of the bait to ants. It is common to use a toxic bait in liquid form and present it to ants in a feeding station comprising a broad, shallow vessel such as a saucer. The feeding station is positioned in the area of the ant infestation, preferably near the nest of the ant colony or on a track followed by ants from the colony.
The use of a broad, shallow vessel, such as a saucer, as a feeding station can create problems. One problem is that the toxic bait is readily accessible to young children and domestic animals. Another problem is that ants can only obtain access to the liquid bait around the perimeter of the bait; they cannot obtain access to the inner region of the expanse of the liquid. Furthermore, as ants travel back and forth between their nest and the bait, some of them inevitably die at the feeding station and their bodies are located around the perimeter of the liquid bait. While some of the bodies are removed by other ants and returned to the nest where they can be devoured, other bodies may be difficult to remove from the liquid bait because of the usually sticky nature of the bait. The bodies which are difficult to remove are usually left at the feeding station. This results in an accumulation of bodies at the feeding station around the perimeter of the bait, the perimeter being the only access to the body of toxic liquid for ants. The accumulating bodies make it progressively more difficult and eventually impossible for other ants to gain access to the bait. The difficulty in gaining access to the bait soon deters other ants from visiting the feeding station. This results in the feeding station becoming ineffective, even though there may be a considerable amount of the bait remaining. Additionally, because ants can only feed on the liquid bait at its perimeter, the rate at which the bait can be consumed is limited. The resultant delay in consuming the bait may lead to its deterioration in effectiveness even before ants are deterred from the bait because of difficulty with access. The deterioration of the bait arises primarily through exposure to the surrounding environment, particularly as a result of the broad surface area of liquid which is exposed to the air. As the liquid deteriorates its surface hardens and becomes glazed. The hardened surface is not appealing to ants and deters them.